Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a handful of reviews of Brad Bird's Pixar extravaganza THE INCREDIBLES, which we are just about a week out from seeing here in the states. I'm all over Saturday morning's press screening, after a brief debate with myself between seeing INCREDIBLES or POLAR EXPRESS... a debate I honestly already knew the answer to... I figured I just can't live with myself if I passed up seeing Fro-Zone in action a few days early. So, expect a review this weekend from me and the Austin AICN crew. To tide you over, I have a few reviews from a London screening, hosted by Brad Bird himself. I can imagine the hype is boiling up past the safe mark, so if you don't want to get super excited, don't read the below... all are glowing. I haven't gotten a negative review of the film. If I did, I'd post it, but it hasn't happened. Also below is a brief description of the trailer for CARS, Pixar's next outting headed by TOY STORY'S John Lasseter (it's the last review for those that want to skip INCREDIBLES praising). Enjoy!
Dear Harry,
Continuing my journey through the London Film Festival, I managed to see The Incredibles today on its second European screening.
All I will say is...excellent. Pixar has managed to top itself once more. Incredibly funny, original, creative and one of the best scripts to come out of any studio. I don't want to end up monologuing, and want everyone to experience it fresh, so I'll just say, it's everything you could hope for and more. Great job from Brad Bird.
Call me BG.
That one was short and sweet. The next one is a bit longer and more involved, so beware... Light spoilers below!
I'm still buzzing from the experience. Brad Bird introduced the film by saying "You're in for a wild ride," and he was not wrong. The film is pure fun from the very start - the humour derives chiefly from the juxtaposition of extraordinary adventures with domestic humdrum, you care for the protagonists and loathe the villains. There's a plot of sorts, but it's really a character piece. In the same ingenious manner with which Pixar have the family's various superpowers constantly complement each other in getting out of perilous situations, the story is woven from the interactions of their personalities. Every moment, every line of dialogue is telling you something new about the characters, and every time that happens, the story moves forward. It barely stops for breath, no mean feat for a film clocking in at close to two hours. It's a very daring running time for an animated film (most cartoons are 70 minutes or so), and it is to its credit that it holds, grips your attention for that length of time.
Another stroke of genius is how in a film which on one level is a very human family drama they managed to cram in such an endless array of stunning action setpieces. Every chase, fight and dilemma is executed with enough invention and flair to fill a dozen movies - and furthermore, all these setpieces pull of the tremendously precarious but hugely rewarding trick of being simultaneously thrilling and laugh-out-loud funny. There's a preposterously tense (literally) sequence where Elastigirl gets various stretched-out limbs stuck in an alarming succession of automatic sliding doors, and each ingenious plan she deploys to extricate herself just gets funnier and funnier - Pixar ramp up the tension as far as they can but always pay you off with a big laugh to take you to the next dilemma.
And visually... it's not only the most technologically sophisticated but also arguably the most aesthetically gorgeous computer-animated film to date. There's a scene early on with Mr Incredible sneaking into the house late only to be surprised by a light flicking on in the corner of the living room where Mrs Incredible has been waiting up for him - the subtlety of the lighting is just too easy to take for granted. The designs strike a fun balance between retro and futuristic - there's a lot of influence from Dr No, Thunderbirds and perhaps from Alan Moore's Science Hero adventures. Elements of the plot owe a certain debt to 'Watchmen' (actually quite a big debt when I come to think of it), too. And the Dr No and Thunderbirds influences are also apparent in the brassy marches and jaunty calypsos.
But thankfully it's not reference-y humour - it's all gentle homage and affectionate pastiche. The only geeky in-joke I spotted was near the start - pay close attention to the scene where Mr Incredible is trying to remember Jason Lee's character's name....
I can't write about this anymore. I've run out of superlatives and I'll just end up giving away all the best bits. It's only a few weeks until it's released officially. I envy all of you who haven't seen it yet - you don't know what you're in for. I have three weeks of torture before I can see it again!
Cheers
Martin
Next up is the biggest article, with a strong focus on what Bird spoke about at the screening. He describes his feelings on the CARS teaser, too. Have at it!
Hey Quint. I went to the Brad Bird masterclass at the London Film Fesival yesterday followed by the European premiere of "The Incredibles" and thought you might appreciate me dropping you a line about it. I won't try to describe in detail everything that was said because I didn't take notes. Instead, I'm just going to detail the things which stuck out in my mind and give some of my thoughts on them. This will result in a rambling article with no pretence at structure, for which I apologise in advance.
I was excited to be going to the masterclass and the premiere in the same day since I loved "The Iron Giant" and liked the idea of being at the first public screening in Europe for "The Incredibles". So when the host of the masterclass, Phil Jupitus, came on stage he had to make us jealous by boasting that he had already seen it. Well that's ok because I knew that there must have been a press screening or two. But then he said that there had been previews and asked how many people in the audience had already seen the film. About a hundred people put their hands up - almost a quarter of the audience! There were some journalists there but I can't imagine that all of these people were press. Correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't 'premiere' mean 'first'? Don't call it a premiere unless that's what it is! Wish I knew how to find out about these extra-early previews in the UK. They just better not have been free, dammit.
Brad Bird was then introduced as the director of "The Iron Giant" which got a HUGE round of applause. Some of his early career was discussed including how he got started in animation when he was 11 years old after seeing a Disney movie at the cinema (I can't remember which one). He asked someone how it was done and was told that each drawing was photographed with a stop-motion camera so he asked his parents for one. His first complete film was about the tortoise and the hare, with the tortoise as the bad guy and ends in a 5-way tie which ruins the ending but "you guys will never get to see it anyway". Bird sent this off to Disney and was hired as a result.
I knew that he worked on "The Simpsons" and wasn't surprised to learn that it was on the first 8 seasons. In my opinion the first 8 seasons range from good to excellent while after that it just varies between underwhelming and good, rarely hitting previous heights. Not that I attribute this directly to Brad Bird since I don't believe one person has that much influence on the quality of a show, but I am glad that Bird got out before the quality really went down. He said that one of the hardest things about doing comedy in animation is remembering when something is funny, because animators will see the same joke dozens or maybe hundreds of times during all the stages of preparation and get bored with it. Then at the last minute before lockdown comes the "2AM joke". The writers or animators at 2AM the night before lockdown will become convinced that the joke isn't funny and come up with a new one and it is this new not-so-funny joke which will end up onscreen and on the print forever. He said that he saw that a lot on "The Simpsons" and regretted those moments, but didn't give examples.
He spoke briefly about "The Iron Giant". Phil Jupitus embarrassed himself by referring to "The Iron Man" as a 'poem' by Ted Hughes. A good attempt at a bluff since Hughes was the poet laureate, but if you haven't read the book there's no shame in admitting it. Brad Bird didn't have the heart to correct him. Hughes did see an early version of the script and approved. Unfortunately, Bird never got to meet Hughes before he died. He was in London and was scheduled to have dinner with him but Hughes couldn't make it because of his illness (which no-one knew about at the time). Hughes offered to meet Bird the next morning but he couldn't since he was flying out that day. I was disappointed to hear this. Surely he could have got an afternoon flight? I don't care what meetings you have in LA - surely there are some people which you just make exceptions for? But I am glad that Hughes didn't disapprove of an American version of his tale, no matter how much it was changed. Bird said that the first third of the film is very much based on the book but that he made the film version more realistic because, whilst he loved the magical element of the Space-Bat, he didn't want to lose the heart of the story - the relationship between Hogarth and the Iron Giant. And it was rather scary to learn that, before Bird became involved, it was being developed as an animated musical.
And then onto "The Incredibles". Bird talked about the process of animating the film between clips from what appeared to be a rough version of the DVD. The menus were basic at this stage but a lot of the material appeared to be there. It seemed similar in style to the "Toy Story Ultimate Toy Box" - the only Pixar DVD I have in my collection. There were sequences of lighting, costumes etc and how storyboards compare to the final film, as well as how sequences look at different stages of rendering - all things which Pixar fans will have seen before. So I will skip over these and concentrate on things particular to "The Incredibles". The most significant of these challenges seemed to be long hair. Bird said that blowing things up and general massive destruction were seen as straightforward by computer guys, but that trying to simulate long hair gave them the shakes. There was an amusing contrast of interviews with the producer and a computer guy. The producer remembers being told that "at this stage, long hair is theoretical" - "Theoretical? The movie comes out in less than a year!" This panic was followed directly by the computer guy calming recalling that it was a challenge which they successfully met - giving the impression that he never had any doubts and always knew that it could be done. Yeah, right! Hindsight is a wonderful thing. And, just to prove how hard it was, they had a showreel of sequences where the hair didn't work at all and moved independently of the characters or stuck out at odd angles. Bird said that it was frustrating because after all the effort they put into getting the hair right, no-one will notice. He said that you could tell when computer people were in an audience because they would be the ones crying when one character stroked another's hair.
Some random additional notes. "The Incredibles" has about 800 more shots than "Finding Nemo"! Pity the poor editor. Apparently, the walk of Syndrome was based on someone who worked at Pixar. Bird didn't say who it was, but when they found out they tried to shake off the walk by twitching their neck. This was worked into the film too, but I was so engrossed in the story that I forgot to look out for it. Brad Bird said that one early critique of the film was that it was all "buttons, doors and explosions". He took offence to this saying that there were only the amount necessary to the plot. So to chasten him, someone at Pixar edited together a sequence of buttons, doors and explosions to the Anvil Chorus. I really hope that this makes it to the DVD because it is very funny indeed.
Bird said that separate digital and film prints had been made which played to the strengths of each medium so that they both look as good as possible, but that it best to see it digitally. He said that the digital version was rendered in 2K (which means nothing to me, but I assume it means 'very good') which is far higher than "Finding Nemo" was. There are only 5 screens in the USA which can play 2K and one of them is at Pixar. So if you can find one of those other 4 screens, demand to see "The Incredibles" on it! The 'Empire' cinema in Leicester Square will be showing "The Incredibles" digitally, but they were uncertain if it would be 2K or not. Bird said that he "hoped so".
Someone asked if he was afraid of what Disney might do with any potential sequels after Pixar splits with Disney. He avoided this and didn't want to get drawn into discussing the Disney/Pixar situation. But he did say that while a good film is diminished by a poor sequel - the world really didn't need Jaws 2, 3 and 4 - a good sequel is worth making - "The Empire Strikes Back", "Godfather 2". He seemed reluctant to make any kind of sequel to "The Incredibles" but said that if he was asked to do it and thought that he could make it as good or better than the original then he might consider it. But I feel that he said this mainly to avoid potentially annoying the audience. (And I'd like to say that I agree with his attitude. Some films are designed to be franchises, but "The Incredibles" is perfect as a stand-alone film. Please concentrate on making original films and avoid any sequels to "The Incredibles"!) Bird did make an interesting point about "Toy Story 2". We know that it was originally developed as a straight-to-video feature but, as he sees it, Pixar defined what kind of company it was going to be when it decided to turn it into something for cinema release and make the attempt to produce something as good as the original. They could have decided just to go with it and make something second-rate to fulfil a contract, but instead they believed in the story so much that they thought it was worth committing whole-heartedly to the project - even to the extent of scrapping all the work which had already been done and starting from scratch.
Lots more was talked about that I can't recall in detail, but I've talked for long enough about it anyway. So onto the premiere itself. I won't offer a review since you've had plenty of those on your site already (which I haven't read to avoid being spoiled). Suffice to say that it may be the best film I've seen this year, alongside "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind". Just a few notes, though. The biggest laugh was to the line "...and guest". I can only imagine how annoyed Brad Bird must have been when, after working for 4 years on "The Incredibles", he saw "Spider-man 2" deliver a stopping-the-train sequence which out-does his in almost every way. Except that "The Incredibles" has the wonderfully cynical legal payoff. You just know that in the real New York at least one of those passengers would have done the same thing to Spidey. There was a bit near the end with two characters discussing how "old school" the heroes actions were. This seemed so out of place and went on for a line or two longer than necessary that I took it to be a reference that I didn't understand, so any help would be appreciated. And I read somewhere that you should stay until the very end of the credits for a special treat. I did, but didn't see any treat so I would love to know what this should have been.
And finally - a note on the special trailer that was shown before the film. England's first look at the trailer for "Cars"! I wasn't expecting that so was very pleased to have the chance to see it. The trailer starts with a bumble bee buzzing peacefully around to gentle music which sounds like it comes from "A Bug's Life". Then "VROOM!" it gets splatted by something going fast across the screen. This turns out to be a truck which comes to a screeching halt. The truck starts talking and making complaining noises before a hotrod sports car pulls up alongside him and tells him to stop complaining. They start moving again and the truck concedes that things could be worse. "How?" asks the sports car before running headlong into a whole swarm of bees. Then we cut to a racetrack sequence of cars battling each other to win a race. This is revealed to be showing on a drive-in cinema screen which the truck and sports car are watching. "I'd drive over a mile of broken glass to see that movie!" says the truck. "Coming 2005".
I'm sorry to say that the trailer didn't do much for me. I realise that it is just a teaser trailer and probably none of the footage is from the film itself, but the animation seemed fairly basic by Pixar standards. That is to say, very good but not in the same class as "The Incredibles". Bold simple colours were used without subtle tones and shades, and everything was evenly lit in a very basic way making the image seem flat. The character designs were too cute, with huge eyes in the windscreens. But worst of all - it wasn't funny. Pixar have spoiled us in the past by delivering teaser trailers as good as the films. The monsters bursting into the wrong bedroom and bickering - genius. Mr Incredible struggling with his belt - genius. And both teasers very very funny. This teaser just is not funny. At all. This is a film directed by John Lasseter so I am still excited about it. But I just hope that this teaser is in no way indicative of the quality of "Cars".
Well, that's all. I hope it wasn't too long-winded.
Supertoyslast
Here's that straight up CARS description! If THE INCREDIBLES is half as good as these reviews say it is, then Pixar's on the most incredible (hehe) streak I've ever seen and CARS could be the next home run.
Hi Harry,
I went to the European premiere of The Incredibles last night, as part of the London Film Festival. Apart from the film itself - which really is pretty damn good - we were shown the teaser for the next Pixar film, due out November 2005.
It's called "Cars", and here's how the trailer ran.
It opens with an idyllic pasture, and a big fat bee bumbling from flower to flower. Suddenly, Whoosh! Something comes in very fast from the left. Cut to a beaten-up old pickup truck tearing down a country road, eyes in the headlights and the grill as a mouth, moaning in a hillbilly drawl about getting a bug in his eye. He's joined by a more modern car who's laughing and teasing him - until he goes through a swarm of bugs and is instantly covered in splatted insects (a device used in The Incredibles).
Cut to rally cars racing around a track, being watched by an audience of cars. They're smashing into each other, edging each other off the track, mean faces on all of them. The animation is astounding - heat hazes, heat mirages, dust flying, particle systems galore. The picture goes grainier as the cars pass the finish line (the flag is waved by a Fiat Uno!), and it pulls back to show that the race has been watched by the two cars we first met on a drive-in.
"Now that's a film I'd go and see!" says the pickup. Cut to logo, very '50s Cadillac style. "Coming November 2005".
You may have had all this already, but I thought you'd be interested!
Best wishes,
Bad Horsey
